The Snail and the Whale was adapted for the stage by the theatre company Tall Stories in 2012, and has been on tour around the United Kingdom and the rest of the world. The audiobook with an accompanying audio cassette, is narrated by English voice actor Imelda Staunton, while the audiobook with an accompanying compact disc is narrated by Scottish voice actor David Tennant. Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta. There’s lots of inspiration here with everything from Snail and the Whale teaching ideas to sensory play and from paper plate crafts and origami to measuring activities, reading worksheets and process art – tons of fantastic resources that everyone can enjoy! Tissue paper is one of my favourite craft materials and this tissue paper snail from Fireflies and Mudpies is a great match to make alongside this children’s book.

We adore Julia Donaldson books and today I’m sharing our favourite The Snail and The Whale activities, craft ideas and resources to make and do alongside reading the book.

Last on

I love this Snail and The Whale sensory bin from Growing Book By Book especially the little whale toy to play with. My real breakthrough was THE GRUFFALO, again illustrated by Axel. We work separately - he’s in London and I’m in Glasgow - but he sends me letters with lovely funny pictures on the envelopes. This precipitates an epic journey that sees the snail and the whale in icy seas, observing mountains and golden sands on the shore, under the sea admiring the sea-life, surviving a thunderstorm and avoiding pleasure seekers in a holiday resort.

I love seeing what kids really have enjoyed making and these model magic snail and whale’s from 3 Dinosaurs are a great example of something creative made at home. The book won the Early Years award for the best pre-school book in 2004, the Blue Peter award for Best Book to Read Aloud, 2005, [2] and the Giverny award for Best Science Picture Book 2007. [3] This CD snail from Arty Crafty Kids is the perfect excuse to use up old CDs or DVDs that you have at home. Have you seen our paper bag puppets for The Scarecrows Wedding? Perfect for a bit of imaginative play! Description: A half hour animated film for all the family based on the much-loved book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler.

Broadcasts

I grew up in a tall Victorian London house with my parents, grandmother, aunt, uncle, younger sister Mary and cat Geoffrey (who was really a prince in disguise. Mary and I would argue about which of us would marry him). The Snail and the Whale is a 2003 children's picture book written by Julia Donaldson and illustrated by Axel Scheffler. It won the 2004 Early Years award for the best pre-school book, the 2005 Blue Peter award for Best Book to Read Aloud, and the 2007 Giverny award for Best Science Picture Book. The Snail and the Whale has also been adapted into an unabridged audiobook, a stage play and translated into British Sign Language. In 2019, a short film based on the book was released. One of my television songs, A SQUASH AND A SQUEEZE, was made into a book in 1993, with illustrations by the wonderful Axel Scheffler. It was great to hold the book in my hand without it vanishing in the air the way the songs did. This prompted me to unearth some plays I’d written for a school reading group, and since then I’ve had 20 plays published. Most children love acting and it’s a tremendous way to improve their reading. We love sharing free printable templates (because free is always a good thing, right?) and what better way to start off than with this whale template. There’s two different designs and lots of ideas for ways to use the templates too or of course you can always use it as a coloring sheet, just grab the markers or colored pencils. We have a free snail template with three different designs too! I also continued to write “grown-up” songs and perform them in folk clubs and on the radio, and have recently released two CDs of these songs.